crazy cat balance

Title

Crazy Cat Balance

Broad Question

Do different cats have different abilities to balance?

Specific Question

What is the effect of the length of a cat’s tail on how far it can walk on planks of wood?

Hypothesis

It is hypothesized that the 25.4 cm tail, will go further on the planks than the 4 cm tail.

Rational:
I think this because so far the two cats have balanced the same when being watched when they are just being cats. Some research said that cats without tails are stronger in parts of their body so that they are able to balance equally with cats that have tails.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable:

Length of a cats' tail

Dependent Variable:

The time it took the cats to walk in seconds

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

• Time
• Length of boards
• Setting
• How many treats are fed
• Stop watch
• Feeding schedule
• Two cats
• Ruler
• Coffee tables

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

Manx- A cat that ia born with a stub as a tail
Planks - Long boards of wood

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General Plan

Potential Problems And Solutions

• Distraction- use quiet room
• Cats could get splinter- sand down plank
• Cats could fall off- put pillows surrounding area
• Make sure your cat is not allergic to treats before tested in experiment

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

• Cats could fall off and not land on their feet
• Cats could be allergic to food/treats
• Cats could get splinter from plank
• Cats could choke on food/treat

Experimental Design
The purpose of this experiment is to test if the length of a cats tail affects how far it can walk on different width planks. Before the experiment two coffee tables will be set 5 ft apart and a plank will be put across the two coffee tables. During the experiment a cat will be placed at one end of the plank. Treats will be placed at about one foot intervals away from the cat. The cat will be let go and the amount of time that the cat takes will be recorded with an iPhone timer. The experiment will be repeated for for each width of plank and type of cat. At the end of the experiment the mean walking time for each of the three trials will be found. This experiment will done at about 5 pm before the cats eat their dinner, and take place in a bedroom familiar to the cats.

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
Planks of wood	3	Borrowed
Cat treats	1 bottle	2.49
Coffee Tables	2	Own
Cats	2	Own
iPhone	1	Own

Detailed Procedure

1. Get three wooden planks and two coffee tables
   (1 inch, an inch and 1/2 and 3 inches in width and 8 ft long)
2. Get two small coffee tables to balance the wooden planks
3. Place a small coffee table, on the floor with the 3 inch board 8 inches on the table
4. repeat for the other end of the plank
5. Have the helper hold the cat on one end facing the other side of the board
6. Get 3 treats and spread them apart put one on the end of the board, middle and beginning of the plank (if the cat does not smell it, put it up to the cats nose and then place it back on the plank while the cat is watching)
7. tell helper to let go of the cat and start the timer
8. Watch to see how far the cat can go without jumping off
9. take pictures and videos while cat is walking
10. stop the timer when the cat reaches the end of the plank
11. Record the time
12. repeat steps 5 - 11 for second cat

Data Table:

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Data Analysis

All Raw Data

Mean- 10.9 for 25.4 cm tail length and 10.5 for 4 cm tail length

Graphs

Photos

Cat with 4cm tail length

Cat with 25.4cm tail length

Results

The mean walking time for each cat was 11 seconds. The cat with a 4 cm length tail had a 16.9, 15.8 and 0 second walking time. The cat with the 25.4 length tail had a 19.1, 12.5 and 0 second walking time. The length of the cat’s tail did not affect the length of time they can balance on a board.

Conclusion

This experiment was designed to test whether the difference of a cats tail affects if it balance on a board. The results showed that it does not matter whether their tails are short or long the balance is the same. The average walking time was 11 seconds for both cats.

Discussion

This experiment was designed to test whether the length of a cats tail affects if it can balance on a board. The results answered my question. The length of a cats’ tail does not affect whether it can balance on a board or not. It was hypothesized that the cat with the 25.4 centimeter tail would go farther. The data did not prove the hypothesis to be true. The cat with the 4 centimeter tail times were 15.8 and 16.9. The cat with the 25.4 centimeter tail times were 19.1 and 12.5. There was one more trial taken but the cats did not attempt to go across.
There is a pattern in the data, it shows the cat with the 25.4 centimeter tail going slower on the thicker plank and then going faster the skinnier one, same for the 4 centimeter tail cat except his was flip flopped he went faster in the thicker plank and slower on the skinnier plank. There were different websites that were researched telling that the tail difference mattered and other websites saying that the size of the tail did not matter just the size of the object the cats are crossing. The websites that said the tail size did not matter proved my experiment to be correct.
The challenges and problems were, the cats were not motivated enough and would not walk across the planks, too much of distraction and the cats were a lot more eager to jump off the plank then cross it. There were also a couple of problems with the experimental design for example, at the beginning of the experiment the design had to change because the structure of the experiment was too wobbly and cat would not even attempt the thickest one. The thicknesses were also changed throughout the experiment because a mistake was realized that the cats’ paws were bigger in width than the board itself. In the beginning of the experiment it would have been smarter to measure the cats’ paws and to measure the planks to make sure that crossing the plank was even possible for the cats.
Length of a cats tail and how it affects if it can balance on a board could be useful information to any cat owners because they will know not to leave and planks of wood lying around that are leading to the outside of a fence because chances are your cat will get out. This science experiment lead to new questions like, how motivated does a cat have to be to walk across an area?

Background Research

The Manx can have all different sizes of tails and have no problem balancing. “A cat’s tail has about 20 vertebrae enclosed in muscles, and held together by ligaments and tendons. About 10 percent of a cat’s bones are in the tail. A cat can hold her tail vertically, move it from side to side, or pull it down between the legs. The average length of this incredibly mobile structure is 11 inches for males and 9.9 inches for females”.
“Cat Balance is probably the length of the cat's flexible tail relative to its body length that gives it the cat balance capability. Like a tightrope walker using a balancing pole, the cat uses its tail. Movement of the tail muscles is directed by the cerebellum which forwards the messages it receives from the cat's eyes and from a specialized organ of the inner ear”.
“When a cat loses its balance and actually takes a spill, the vestibular apparatus kicks in. This helps the cat register which direction is up and triggers the "righting" reflex that cats rely on to turn themselves in mid air, adjusting the orientation of the body so that they land squarely on all four feet. This organ, together with the tail, which acts as a counterbalance, permits the cat to perform its remarkable signature acrobatics. The Manx, a tailless breed, is thought to have an especially sensitive vestibular apparatus to compensate”.

References

http://pets.thenest.com/cats-tail-relate-its-size-9920.html

http://www.cat-health-detective.com/catbalance.html

http://animal.discovery.com/cat-guide/cat-anatomy/ears-hearing.html

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to find out whether the length of cats tail effects if it can the cats can walk across a plank while being balanced. This experiment was designed to test whether the length of cats tail effects if it can the cats can walk across a plank while being balanced. It was hypothesized that the long tail cat with the 35 cm tail, will go further on the planks than the 0 cm tail cat. In my experiment two coffee tables were set at each end of an 8 ft plank of wood. The results showed mean walking time for each cat was 11 seconds. The cat with a 4 cm length tail had a 16.9, 15.8 and 0 second walking time. The cat with the 25.4 length tail had a 19.1, 12.5 and 0 second walking time. The length of the cat’s tail did not affect whether they can walk on a plank of wood while being balanced.